WHITE BLUFF, Tenn. (WTVF) — Families are reconsidering public education thanks to the state's controversial new third-grade retention law.
The lawmakers that passed the law said it would help the state identify pandemic learning loss. Opponents argue it was simply another way to target public schools.
"The more people feel like they have to leave our public school system, they have to look for alternatives, and that goes right into whether it be private, private charter schools, and that's exactly what they want to happen, so they can have an excuse and reason to steer more tax dollars to their private friends and individuals," State Rep. John Ray Clemmons of Nashville said.
Lorene Akerman's eight-year-old granddaughter did not pass the TCAP reading exam.
"When I had to tell her about summer school and tutoring or the possibility of being held back, it devastated her," said Lorene Akerman. "She got teary-eyed and walked into her room. It was hard."
Akerman has custody of her daughter's three children. She says the third grader has endured a lot this year.
"She has had catastrophic situations. I mean her, nana — my mom — has cancer. We're dealing with that on top of her mom and the bullying," Akerman said.
Tennessee's third-grade retention law is forcing; more than half of the class into summer school. Students that failed the reading test are held back if they don't go to summer school, work with a tutor in fourth grade or score better on a re-test.
Despite being an honor roll student, Akerman's granddaughter didn't pass the retake.
"The cherry on top was watching her yesterday walk across [the stage] and get her award and then getting that pink slip that says she's going to be held back if she doesn't go to summer school and take tutoring all year," she said.
Regardless of her results on the one test, Akerman is proud of her granddaughter and wishes the state would give her more credit too.
"To tell her that all her hard work just amounted to failing, it's not right," she said.
Akerman said they are considering homeschooling after the eight-year-old brought it up. The state does have some rules for testing for home school students. NewsChannel 5 found independent home schools have to register with a local school district, and there are standardized tests for some grades. Whereas for church-related homeschoolers, testing is optional.
